The Short Fiction of Zora Neale Hurston: Part I - Spunk

I love Zora Neale Hurston. She is hands down, one of my favorite writers. In my opinion, Their Eyes Were Watching God, is one of the best novels in American literature. But Hurston was more than an excellent novelist. She was also an accomplished short story writer. The purpose of this article, written in three parts, is to examine Zora Neale Hurston's short stories and determine whether the stories can be classified as "high art" based on the characteristics outlined by Leroi Jones in his essay "The Myth of a Negro Literature" that he delivered in 1962 at the American Society for African Culture. In his address Jones defines high art as "any art that would attempt to describe or characterize some portion of the profound meaningfulness of human life with any finality or truth." He also states that it "cannot be based on superficialities of human existence" (Jones 109). According to Jones art should be real and truthful. Jones contends that (prior to his speech) black literature has been only moderately mediocre because of writer's attempts to emulate middle class white America. He maintains that the only genre in which blacks have excelled artistically is in music. It is the jazz and blues musicians that Jones regards as high artists. However, based on his assertions on what is "high art," one can conclude that although Jones does not consider it, the works of Zora Neale Hurston qualify.

In 1925, Hurston published her third short story "Spunk." In the tale, she combines elements of the supernatural and the act of revenge. In the story Spunk Banks is a man who covets another man's wife, takes her as his own and parades their adulterous affair in front of the man and the entire town. Spunk eventually kills the husband Joe Kanty, in an act that the town claims as self-defense. But it is Joe who has the last word when he exacts postmortem revenge on Spunk. Measured against the criteria outlined in Jones' essay, Hurston's story is a true example of high-art. Hurston's characters exemplify "the emotional predicament of the man" (Jones 109). Joe is tormented by his love for his wife and the embarrassment of her betrayal. Hurston's characters deal with a variety of emotions that enable them to more accurately reflect the human soul. These emotions are vividly reflected in Hurston mastery use of language. The story is told mostly through figuratively rich dialogues between the members in the town. As with many of her works, Hurston uses dialect to exemplify the heart and soul of the people whom she writes about. It is this use of dialect that is perhaps one of Hurston's greatest strengths and one of the characteristics that make her stories true art. Hurston fully acknowledges the importance of language and her contribution to language as an artist: "But the Negro's greatest contribution to the language is: (1) the use of metaphor and simile; (2) the use of double descriptive; (3) the use of verbal nouns (Characteristics 25). Hurston writes using a language and dialect that is specific to the experience of rural-small town life in Florida. She knows that language is a significant part of identity and therefore a true representation of language is a true representation of the person. In her essay, Hurston states "very few Negroes, educated or not, use a clear clipped 'I.' It verges more or less upon "Ah" (Characteristics 31). She does not attempt to make her characters sound like any one else. Hurston's use of language adds to her artistry and her adeptness in her craft make her stories examples of literary high art.

At the heart of "Spunk" there lies a foundation of revenge and retribution. Joe Kanty is characterized a meek and mild man. However, he is eventually pushed to far after seeing his wife Lena in town with Spunk. He tells the men in the store "Well, Ah'm goin' after her to-day. Ah'm goin' an' fetch her back. Spunk's done gone too fur" (Hurston, Spunk 27). Joe approaches the two but is rebuffed. Later we are told that Joe attacks Spunk with a razor and is killed when Spunk shoots him in retaliation. But, in a twist of fate, Spunk is later killed when he is "pushed" by Joe who he believes lives in the body of a black bob-cat. In his final moments, Spunk expresses his beliefs in who killed him : "'It was Joe, 'Lige-the dirty sneak shoved me . . . he didn't dare come to mah face . . . but Ah'll git the son-of-a-wood louse soon's Ah get there an' make hell too hot for him. . . . Ah felt him shove me' "(Hurston, Spunk 31). Spunk's belief that Joe has killed him depicts the deep, mythical cultural roots of the people in the town. As quoted by David Hall "critics have praised its 'mythic quality' achieved by her use of material from folklore and voodoo (1). It is this use of folklore that makes the story an excellent example of the type of literature that Jones would consider high art. By Hurston's own admission, the Negro folklore is a very important aspect of expression: "Negro folklore is not a thing of the past. It is still in the making. Its great variety shows the adaptability of the black man: nothing is too old or too new, domestic or foreign high or low, for his use. God and the Devil are paired, and are treated no more reverently than Rockefeller and Ford (Characteristics 27). Hurston's depictions of the common everyday man in the small town she writes about, makes her story accessible to her audience. Hurston's story reflects the spirit of her audience in her story, which makes her a true artist.

In parts two and three, Hurston's stories "Sweat" and "The Gilded Six Bits" are examined.

Works Cited

Zora Neale Hurston. "Characteristics of Negro Expression" Negro: An Anthology. Ed Nancy Cunard, 1977.

Zora Neale Hurston, "Spunk." The Short Stories, 1995.Leroi Jones. "The Myth of a 'Negro Literature'." Home: Social Essays, 1966.